When searching for Greenville financial advisors to work with, consider a firm that has an in-house accountant. Working with a diligent accountant, especially this time of year when tax time is approaching, can help you in ways you may not have considered.

For example, have you thought about taking advantage of tax deferral strategies to help better prepare yourself for retirement later in life? This is one of the most important things an investor can do. And without an accountant’s help, investors often miss these opportunities, and therefore, miss another opportunity to maximize their total wealth (after taxes).

Remember: Like financial advisors, not all accountants are the same. Some accountants won’t put their clients’ best interests first and instead focus on their own personal workload – they want to minimize taxes but also ease the effort it requires to perform their tax preparation. If you’re working with an accountant like this, he or she may overlook serious investor pitfalls. Here are a few examples:

• Are you using high-cost insurance or variable annuities to avoid taxes? This can bring substantial fees. Don’t work with an accountant who recommends or sells these.

• Have you been asked to avoid investments because they can make tax preparation more difficult? This shouldn’t be your concern. But some accountants will do this. For example, they may recommend not owning investments that generate K-1s, even though, for some investors, these can make sense.

• Does your accountant understand the Investor Return Gap and the cost of hidden fees? Vanguard and Morningstar both believe investor coaching and asset allocation can easily add back the cost of advice. This means, for most investors, a true fee-only fiduciary advisor is worth the fee, even if he doesn’t add value on investments.

Have questions you’d like to ask an accountant? Global View has an accountant in house. Contact us to see how we can help.

Your Financial Advisory Team

I believe that all investors can benefit from an investment manager who works with an accountant, or ideally, like the Global View team, have them under one roof, so you can capture as many of these opportunities as possible.

At Global View, we have an in-house accountant who works with our investment managers to make sure our clients identify and take advantage of any opportunity they can, especially when it means getting more return without taking unnecessary risk.

One-Stop Shop

Full-service, ongoing investment advisory services are necessary to make sure investors are on the right path – and that they accomplish the goals they set! It’s how we avoid problems our clients don’t even see coming.

Investment management and financial planning, which should include tax and estate planning, are joined at the hip, and therefore, can be helpful when they’re all handled by the same firm. That’s why, when I founded Global View, I wanted to make sure we had the right staff to help our clients with:

• Asset protection strategies (usually avoiding using insurance)
• Proactive tax planning strategies
• College and education planning
• Family budgeting and cash flow planning
• Estate planning
• Debt and mortgage planning
• Ongoing attention from a real person – someone who cares about you and your family

Investors need to take advantage of every opportunity they can. As life-long learners, the Global View team leverages our experience to think outside the box and help our clients deliver the returns they need to accomplish their long-term, retirement goals. I believe Global View has created a system that will do this, whatever the future holds.

Here’s a Story

At Global View, we help clients with all different needs and backgrounds. That includes clients who need help maximizing the sale of their business, and we do this by combining smart tax and estate planning strategies with financial planning. Because we can. Because we have all of the right professionals under one roof.

One client comes to mind who wanted to use the sale of his and his wife’s business to fund their retirement. Both in their late 50s, the couple had spent three decades building a successful civil engineering company. But the time eventually came to sell, as this was their biggest asset. This specific couple owned a home and both had retirement accounts, but the majority of their net worth was tied up in their business. They were working with professionals to help them sell the business, but wanted help managing the proceeds after the sale.

This couple found Global View online. And through a thorough assessment and in-person meetings, we learned their big concerns. We learned about their goals and the fact that they both had hoped to retire early, but were unsure if that was smart. They had three adult children and continued to support their youngest who was struggling financially.

We worked with the couple and eventually came up with a strategy:

1. We prepared a full comprehensive financial plan to create a roadmap to the future they envisioned as well as a clear action plan.
2. We brought our in-house accountant in to help brainstorm a tax-efficient way to structure the sale of their business.
3. After the business was sold, we helped them invest that money to help preserve that capital and grow it conservatively.
4. We went through the couple’s estate planning process, and once again, relied on our in-house attorney for help.
5. We helped the couple determine the best time to retire and file for Social Security.
6. We helped these clients establish a Trust to help minimize income taxes.
7. We helped them brainstorm and implement a way to help their son without creating dependence.

These actions were done over time, and with each step, we reviewed and agreed with the client prior to implementation.

The Result

Today, the couple is retired, though the husband does do some occasional consulting for the new owner of his business. The couple continues to meet with us to stay informed of their progress. We continue to fine tune various aspects of their financial situation to help take advantage of tax strategies that can help them improve their results going forward.

Accountants are a crucial part of a strong financial plan. And when a firm has access to their own accountant on staff, situations like this can be easier for the client, a more complete picture for a financial advisor and result in a better outcome all around.